Against All Odds: The Art of the Highwaymen

General Event Information

Opening June 14 at the Tampa Bay History Center, Against All Odds: The Art of the Highwaymen features a rare look at the work of all 26 Florida Highwaymen artists.

Unable to show their work in local art galleries, a group of African American artists decided to take their art directly to the people. They sold their paintings featuring colorful Florida landscapes out of the trunks of their cars along Florida’s highways, usually for no more than $35. They worked collaboratively, and employed a “fast painting” method that allowed them to produce hundreds of paintings.

Dubbed “The Highwaymen” in the mid-1990s by art collector and critic Jim Fitch, works by these previously unknown, self-taught folk artists became highly sought after by private collectors, and galleries all over the world started exhibiting their work.

Opening Father’s Day weekend, Dads will receive free admission to the History Center on both Saturday, June 14 and Sunday, June 15 with one paid admission.